Industrial and dangerous goods packaging

Industrial and dangerous goods packaging

About one third of the consumption of plastic packaging on the German market is allotted to transport and industrial packaging. Traditionally the share of industrial plastic packaging in Germany is very high compared to other European countries, since the main customer, the German chemical industry, based on its large export power, is a heavy consumer of drums, canisters, bags and rigid and flexible intermediate bulk containers. Consequently, work around the very complex topic of the transport of hazardous goods in plastic packaging approved for the purpose is a priority area of activity of the association.

About 40 member companies of the IK produce such dangerous goods packaging. In no other segment of the packaging industry do international regulations have such high significance as in dangerous goods packaging sector. The international transportation regulations for road, rail and sea transport are developed on the United Nations level and adapted nearly unchanged into national law. They constitute the business foundation for the link between packaging companies and their customers, but also to the test houses and responsible authorities.

The IK is the worldwide competence centre for plastic packaging of dangerous goods. Thus, the secretariat of the international association ICPP International Confederation of Plastic Packaging Manufacturers is located at the IK. ICPP has consultative status at the United Nations in Geneva, where it commands competent influence on regulations. Moreover, the IK is represented in various national committees on dangerous goods transport and cooperates closely with the Federal Ministry for Transport and the Federal Institute for Materials Testing and Research (BAM).

Beyond that, the office of the European Association of Producers of Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC) is also located at the IK, which represents the interests of producers and distributors of such “Big Bags” active in the European market.